Pomm's Watercolor Academy

Refund Policy

Effective Date: January 1st 2026 |  Last Updated: August 30th 2026

We want every student at Pomm's Watercolor Academy to love their experience. If something isn't working for you, we'd much rather help you get there than process a refund — but we understand that sometimes a refund is the right outcome, and we've tried to make this policy as clear and fair as possible.

 

This policy applies to purchases made directly through Pomm's Watercolor Academy. If you purchased through a Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) provider, that provider's terms may also apply — see Section 4 below.

 

1. Digital Products & Downloads

This section covers all standalone digital products and downloadable content sold through our website, including workbooks, reference sheets, brushstroke guides, and any other one-time purchase digital files. For the avoidance of doubt, these policies do not apply to our Masterclass or Institute Products

 

Our Commitment

We want you to be delighted with your purchase. Before requesting a refund, we encourage you to reach out to us — in many cases we can resolve technical issues, resend files, or help you get the most out of your purchase.

 

Refund Window

You may request a full refund on any digital product or download within 30 days of purchase. For the avoidance of doubt, this policy do not apply to our Masterclass or Institute Products

 

How It Works

Email us at hello@pommwatercoloracademy.com within 30 days of your purchase date.

Tell us a little about what went wrong — this helps us improve, though it is not required for your refund to be approved.

We will do our best to resolve your issue first. If we can't, we will process your refund promptly.

Refunds are returned to your original payment method. Processing time is typically 5–10 business days depending on your bank or card provider.

 

After 30 Days

We are unable to offer refunds on digital products more than 30 days after purchase. If you have an issue after this window, please still reach out — we want to help.

 

2. The Institute

The Institute is our flagship high-touch program, priced at $6,000 USD. Because of the significant resources, onboarding, instructor time, and personalized support involved, this program has a more detailed refund policy.

Why refunds are 90%, not 100%

Every enrollment carries costs we cannot recover once it has happened. Payment processing fees are charged to us at the point of sale and are not returned to us when a refund is issued. Onboarding, account setup, and instructor time begin the moment you join.

For that reason, approved refunds on The Institute are 90% of the amount you have paid. A 10% administrative amount is retained. We would rather tell you this clearly up front than surprise you with it later.

Phase 1: 14-Day Early Exit

Within the first 14 days of your enrollment date, you may request a refund for any reason. No explanation is required.

Email hello@pommwatercoloracademy.com with the subject line: "Institute Refund Request."

Approved refunds in this window are 90% of the amount paid.

Refunds are subject to any BNPL provider terms (see Section 5).

Phase 2: Refunds After 14 Days

After the 14-day period, our goal is to do everything we can to help you succeed before a refund is considered. We believe the best outcome for both of us is you painting confidently and loving the program. We cannot guarantee eligibility for a refund after the first 14 days of your membership.

To be eligible for a refund after 14 days, you must demonstrate a genuine attempt to engage with the program:

Evidence of active participation. We look for signs that you have shown up and tried — lesson access history, paintings you have attempted, exercises you have worked through, or similar engagement.

A support request. You must have contacted our team to report the issue and given us a reasonable opportunity to help you troubleshoot and succeed.

Instructor review. Your case will be reviewed by one of our instructors. Their role is not to gatekeep your refund — it is to understand where things broke down and make a genuine effort to get you to a win. If after that review a refund remains the right outcome, we will honor it.

To begin a refund request after 14 days, email hello@pommwatercoloracademy.com with the subject line "Institute Refund Request" and include a brief description of your experience and what support you've sought. We will follow up to schedule a review.

Non-Refundable Amount After Month One

If a refund is approved after the conclusion of your first full month of enrollment, the non-refundable amount becomes the greater of 10% of the amount paid or $1,000 USD. This reflects the cost of onboarding, instructor setup time, platform access, and resources provided during that period.

Example: if you enrolled and paid $5,000 and a refund is approved after month one, $1,000 is retained (as it is greater than the 10% figure of $500) and the refund would be $4,000 USD, subject to the engagement requirements above.

These amounts apply where enforceable. They do not override the mandatory refund rights of any consumer protection laws that may apply to you — see Section 6.

---

3. Pomm's Watercolor Masterclass

Pomm's Watercolor Masterclass is a self-paced video course built on Pomm's 5-Phase Layering Method. It does not carry the standard 30-day digital product refund described in Section 1. It carries two protections instead, and you can use whichever fits your situation.

The First Week Guarantee — for the first 7 days, if you've started and it isn't for you.

The Action Guarantee — after that, if you do the whole course and your painting genuinely has not improved.

Why refunds are 90%, not 100%

Payment processing fees are charged to us when you buy and are not returned to us when a refund is issued. Every student also triggers real onboarding and staff time from the moment they join. All approved Masterclass refunds are therefore 90% of the purchase price. A 10% administrative amount is retained. We say this plainly because we would rather you knew before you bought than after.

3.1 The First Week Guarantee (days 1–7)

If you've genuinely started and the course isn't right for you, you can step back out within your first week. Four things need to have happened first — all of them are things you'd do in your first sitting anyway.

You've logged in. Your account has been accessed at least once.

You've started the course. This includes sending us your starting painting — a photo of a piece you've made before working through the method, emailed to hello@pommwatercoloracademy.com. We call this "Painting Zero," and it is what gives us an honest starting point. If you have never painted before, paint the first practice exercise in Module 1 and send that instead.

You've been active. Some lesson progress is recorded in your account. Our platform tracks this automatically.

You've told us what's going wrong. At least one written message to hello@pommwatercoloracademy.com or inside the community, describing the problem, with a reasonable chance for us to help. Most problems in the first week are fixable in a single reply, and we would much rather fix yours.

If all four are true and you still aren't happy, email us with the subject line "Masterclass Refund Request" before the end of day 7 from your purchase date. We will respond, and we may offer to help one more time — but if your answer is still no, we process a 90% refund. No argument.

3.2 The Action Guarantee (after day 7)

Pomm has taught this method for forty years and has never had a student who followed the sequence and did not improve. We are willing to stand behind that in writing.

Complete the Masterclass, do the exercises, send in your work at each required checkpoint — and if your painting has genuinely not improved, we refund you.

We are not asking you to be talented. We are not asking you to be fast. We are asking you to actually do the work, and to let us see it, so that if something isn't working we have a real chance to fix it before you decide the course has failed you.

To qualify, you must complete all five of the following:

Watch the full course. All lessons must be marked complete in your student account.

Submit your starting painting ("Painting Zero"). Within your first 30 days, as described in 3.1. A claim cannot be assessed without this.

Complete and submit the required checkpoint work. Each required checkpoint is marked clearly inside the course. You must submit a photo of your own painting at every checkpoint, worked through in order, as you go.

Ask for help at least once. At least one written question or support request describing what you were stuck on. We cannot help you with a problem we never heard about.

Do all of the above within 120 days of your purchase date.

Work must be your own, made by hand, and photographed clearly enough to assess. Submissions sent in a single batch at the end, rather than at each checkpoint as you worked, do not meet requirement 3.

How to make a claim. Email hello@pommwatercoloracademy.com with the subject line "Action Guarantee Claim" within 30 days of finishing the course, and no later than 150 days from your purchase date. Include your full name, the email address used to purchase, your purchase date, photos of your starting painting and your checkpoint work if not already submitted, and a short description of what you feel has not improved.

What happens next.

Pomm or a senior instructor reviews your work personally, comparing your starting painting with your checkpoint work against the specific skills the course teaches — board and paper preparation, water control, wash quality, value and contrast, colour mixing, and composition.

If we can see where it went wrong, we will tell you and help you fix it. You'll receive a written diagnosis and a specific plan, and 14 days to apply it. In almost every case there is one identifiable thing standing in the way, and we would much rather you got the painting than the money back.

If, after that, your work genuinely has not improved, we refund 90% of your purchase price. No argument, no negotiation. We make that decision within 10 business days of the review and email you either way.

3.3 How refunds are paid

Refunds are returned to your original payment method and typically take 5–10 business days to appear, depending on your bank or provider.

3.4 What does not qualify

Neither guarantee is a trial period. They do not cover:

Buying and never logging in, or never sending your starting painting

Missing checkpoint submissions, or work submitted only after deciding to claim

Changing your mind, buying by mistake, or no longer having time

Technical or access problems you did not report to us at the time

Work that is not your own, or work made by tracing, copying, or reproducing another student's painting

Claims made outside the windows in 3.1 and 3.2

If you have hit a wall for a reason that isn't covered here — illness, bereavement, a family emergency — please email us anyway. We will look at it as human beings.

3.5 Access after a refund

Where a refund is issued, your access to the Masterclass, including any lifetime access, ends on the date the refund is processed, and your licence to use the course materials, downloads, and reference files is withdrawn. Continued use or sharing of the materials after a refund is not permitted.

3.6 Institute members

Students who received the Masterclass as an included bonus with The Institute are covered by the Institute terms in Section 2, not by this section. There is no separate or additional refund attached to a bonus.

3.7 Payment plans and Buy Now Pay Later (Klarna, Afterpay and similar)

Your eligibility is exactly the same whether you paid in full or in instalments.

The mechanics of the refund are governed by your agreement with that provider. Refund timelines, how instalments are unwound, partial refund handling, and any fees or interest are set by Klarna, Afterpay, or whichever provider you used — not by us. Where their terms conflict with this policy, their terms govern the refund process.

The 10% administrative amount applies where the provider permits it.

Keep making your scheduled payments until a refund is confirmed. A pending claim is not a reason to stop paying, and missed instalments may result in late fees charged by your provider, which we cannot reverse.

We process approved refunds back through the provider you paid with. We cannot refund a BNPL purchase by any other method.

3.8 Your statutory rights

Nothing in this section limits or excludes any rights you have under applicable consumer protection law. Consumers in the EU/EEA and the United Kingdom have a 14-day right of withdrawal for digital products purchased online, which may be waived where you consent to immediate access before the withdrawal period ends. We disclose this clearly at checkout. See Section 6 for full detail.

4. Payment Plans (Kajabi Payments)

For students enrolled in The Institute on a monthly payment plan through Kajabi Payments:

 

The same 14-day no-questions-asked window applies from your first payment date.

Refund requests after 14 days follow the engagement and review process described in Section 2.

Approved refunds will be applied to payments made. Future scheduled payments may be cancelled as part of an approved refund, but amounts already paid and covered by the non-refundable policy will not be returned.

If you are on a payment plan and wish to cancel future payments without a refund, please contact us at hello@pommwatercoloracademy.com to discuss your options.

 

5. Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) Providers

We offer the option to pay through third-party Buy Now Pay Later providers. If you used a BNPL service to purchase any of our products:

 

Your refund eligibility under this policy still applies as described above.

The mechanics of how a refund is processed — including timelines, partial refund handling, and any fees — are governed by your agreement with your BNPL provider.

In the event of a conflict between our policy and your BNPL provider's terms, the BNPL provider's terms will govern the refund process.

Administrative and non-refundable amounts described in Sections 2 and 3 — the 10% retained on all refunds, and the greater of 10% or $1,000 retained on Institute refunds after month one — will be applied where permitted by the BNPL provider.

 

If you have questions about how a refund will interact with your BNPL arrangement, we recommend contacting your BNPL provider directly. We are also happy to help where we can — just email hello@pommwatercoloracademy.com.

 

6. Your Statutory Rights

Nothing in this policy limits or excludes any rights you have under applicable consumer protection law. If you are located outside the United States, additional rights may apply to you depending on your country or region:

 

European Union / EEA: Consumers in the EU/EEA have a 14-day right of withdrawal for digital products purchased online. Please note that by accessing or downloading a digital product, you may be waiving this right if you consented to immediate access prior to the end of the withdrawal period. We will clearly disclose this at checkout.

United Kingdom: UK consumers have similar statutory rights under the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013.

Other regions: Additional rights may apply. We will honor legally required rights in your jurisdiction even if they differ from the terms above.

Where a statutory right requires a full refund, that right takes precedence over the 10% administrative amount described in Sections 2 and 3.

 

If you believe your statutory rights entitle you to a refund that falls outside our standard policy, please contact us and we will work with you in good faith.

 

7. How to Request a Refund

For all refund requests, please email us at:

 

hello@pommwatercoloracademy.com

 

Please include the following in your email:

Your full name and the email address used to purchase

The product or program you are requesting a refund for

Your purchase date

A brief description of your situation (required for Institute refund requests after 14 days; optional for all others)

 

We aim to respond to all refund requests within 3 business days.

 

This policy is governed by the laws of the State of Florida, USA. Pomm's Watercolor Academy reserves the right to update this policy at any time. Changes will be posted on this page with an updated effective date. Continued use of our products following any change constitutes acceptance of the revised policy.